The Legend of Zelda: A Deadly Vacancy
by RickGiriamax
Summary: [SONGFIC] Link returns to Lon Lon Ranch and tells Malon about the frightening adventure he had just a few hours ago. / Based on the song 'Hotel California' by The Eagles. Pretty creepy... read if you dare... (Slight MaLink story)


**A/N: I was listening to the radio last night while working on another chapter of my story 'The Legend of Zelda: The Age of Darkness' when they started to play the song 'Hotel California'. I then came up with this SongFic story based on the lyrics of that creepy song. I hope you like it! This is my first SongFic, so I'd appreaciate your coments. R&R!**

**[SET FIVE YEARS AFTER MAJORA'S MASK, WHEN LINK HAS RETURNED TO HYRULE]**

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><p>It was early morning, still several hours before dawn, and Link was sitting across from Malon in the dining room in her house in Lon Lon Ranch, a glass of warm milk in his still shaky hands. She reached out a hand and held one of his tightly while he recovered. He absentmindedly caressed the back of her hand with his thumb and took a sip from his milk.<p>

"Link," said the redhead girl, "come on… tell me what happened."

"I... I..." stuttered Link. He felt like his past experiences hadn't been nearly as frightening as what he had just endured. He had never felt so courage-less since he was awoken by Navi so many years ago.

"Link," insisted Malon, moving her chair closer to Link and wrapping her arms around his waist and gently kissing his cheek, "tell me please."

He closed his eyes and started to recall the events of the past few hours.

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><p><em><strong>-Link's POV-<strong>_

I was riding Epona through the same region of the Lost Woods where I had been attacked by the Skull Kid when I was searching for Navi when rain started to pour down. There was a cool wind that sent the raindrops directly against Epona and I, and carried a strange smell in the air.

I immediately tried to find a hollow tree or a cave for shelter, but there was nothing around. Epona and I were soaked to the bones when I thought I saw some light up ahead. I urged Epona forward and noticed that there was definitely a soft shimmer in the distance, like the flickering light of torches or a campfire.

I started to feel tired, darkness surrounding me and Epona as the night advanced and the forest became thicker, and as my head started to grow heavy y noticed how my eyelids were starting to close due to my weariness. The rain, in combination with my fading strength and increasing darkness made my sight grow dim and blurry just as I reached the mossy façade of a large building, some sort of hotel.

After climbing down from Epona, I took her to a small stable next to the main building and then ran toward the entrance and pulled the door open, stepping into the dim light inside the reception. When the door closed I thought I heard the soft chime of a bell, echoing down the hallway to the right. The sole sound of it made my skin crawl; I approached the counter but there was nobody there; the chime of the bells sounded again.

"Can I help you?" said a low female voice.

I nearly jumped out of my skin and turned around, just to see a young girl standing in the doorway of the main entrance hotel. My heart raced, as I really hadn't heard the door opening, and I rubbed my hand on my chest while I recovered my breath. The girl was around fifteen years old, had pale pink skin, light brown eyes and long black hair that hung on each side of her cute face and just below her shoulders. She was wearing a light gray gown with a brown leather belt tied up around her waist, from which a set of keys hung.

"I'm sorry," she said with a faint smile on her face, "I didn't mean to startle you. My name is Tiffany, what's yours?"

"L… Link," I replied. "My name is Link."

"Can I help you, Link?" she asked again.

"Y… yes, I'm sorry," I managed to stutter. "Is there a room available?"

"Yes, of course," she replied, still with the same smile, "there's plenty of room at the Lost Woods Hotel."

I watched her as she went behind the counter and handed me a large dusty book. I took a quick look at it and noticed that the pages seemed to be old, too old actually, and there was a layer of dust on top of it that made me wonder when the last time that someone signed it was. I started to have this uneasy feeling inside, like if unsure about if this was a good idea or if the Goddesses had entirely forgotten this place. Trying hard to push the creepy thoughts out of my mind, I blew away the dust and signed my name on it.

"That will do," said Tiffany. She lit up a small candle and came out from behind the desk. "If you could please follow me?" she asked him.

I doubted for a few seconds and then walked right behind her into the corridor. Looking around I noticed that the wallpaper seemed to be so old that it appeared to be crumbling in some places. My skin crawled again as I looked at the portraits hanging on the walls, and cringed as I felt as if their eyes were following me all along the way.

"It's normal," I thought. "This usually happens with front looking faces on portraits."

We turned in a corner and Tiffany led me upstairs. I noticed how strangely she moved, as if she was floating along more than walking, and felt the air growing cold. We went through another corridor, also dim lit and filled with a chilling air. The doors on each side were all old and slightly cracked in places, and I noticed some cobwebs here and there on the ceiling. We walked for what seemed to be an eternity, corridor after corridor, turn after turn, and stairs after stairs; suddenly, my skin crawled again and my heart started to beat fast when I thought I heard voices, whispers coming from within the walls. I listened at them and tried to understand what they said:

"Welcome to Lost Woods Hotel."

"This is a lovely place to stay."

"Such a lovely face…"

"There's plenty of room… come… stay…"

"Any time… any day…"

"Find us… stay…"

My heart was racing and my breathing increased when we suddenly stopped in front of a room. I looked up at the door sign while Tiffany unlocked it and noticed that it had no number, not anymore, as it seemed to have been scratched out.

"This is your room, Link," said Tiffany, still smiling faintly at him. "I'd advise you not to try and wander around too much on your own as you may get lost."

"Tiffany," I doubted for a few seconds and then managed to ask, "did you hear those… voices outside?"

"Our guests usually stay for a long time," she said, walking toward me still smiling at me. Her face was now only inches away from mine; I tripped backwards and fell sitting on the bed. She then leaned forward and planted a kiss on my cheek. "I hope you join us for dinner later. The master's chambers are on the next floor."

She stood up again and I noticed that her smile had now almost turned into a grin. She exited my room and I touched my cheek, shivers going down my spine, for her lips had felt cold as ice on my skin. I closed my eyes, frightened for the first time in many years; there was something definitely twisted about this place, about Tiffany herself, and I wasn't sure I wanted to figure out exactly what it was. I remembered when I broke the curse on the Oceanside Spider House in Termina, how I felt creeps whenever I entered a room, not knowing what I would find.

My judgment told me to stay put in my room and wait until the morning but the stupid hero inside of me didn't listen, so eventually I opened the door and stepped into the corridor; I regretted doing so immediately. Instead of being as empty as it was less than a minute ago, there seemed to be people coming and going, completely oblivious of my presence. The corridor now was clean, still dim lit, but everything seemed to be new. I felt the chilling air once more and breathed out a puff of mist. I tried to listen carefully to every word that a young couple a few feet away said:

"It's lovely," said the woman. "Tiffany is so happy with her new horse. Her dad really hit the big prize with that stallion. She named him Benz, like the champion of the Royal Family's horseback riding competitions."

"I think he went a little over the edge there," replied the man. "She is still taking horseback riding lessons."

I turned around and hurriedly tried to get away from the couple; walked through the corridor and managed to overhear Tiffany's name every now and then, especially from young boys. People were entering and exiting the rooms all around me and the place seemed to be in a lively mood, and I began to wonder how many friends she really had.

I climbed down a staircase, not sure if it was the one that I had climbed up when Tiffany led me to my bedroom. After what seemed to me like an eternity, I reached the bottom of the stairs and saw a large corridor into an open double door. I walked toward it and saw Tiffany in the middle of a courtyard; she seemed to be dancing alone with her back turned to the door where Link was standing frozen. Tiffany then stopped moving and giggled.

"You can come and dance with me if you want," she said.

"Well… I…" I stuttered, my heart racing again and an uneasy feeling going through me. She turned around and cocked her head sideways with a smile on her pale cute face and stretched out a hand toward me.

Without realizing what I was doing, I walked up to her and held her hand, noticing immediately how cold it felt. She grabbed my other hand, placed it in her slim waist and then put her own free hand on my shoulder. She started to lead me in a slow waltz, making me feel stupid as I couldn't hear any music.

"Why are you dancing alone?" I managed to ask, surprised that I hadn't stuttered this time.

"I'm not alone, you silly," she replied with a giggle. "You're dancing with me, aren't you?"

"I mean before, why were you dancing alone?" I rephrased my question.

"I'm not alone," she repeated. "There are a lot of pretty boys here which are my friends. We like to dance here in this courtyard, especially during summer nights."

"With no music?" I asked.

"It doesn't matter," she replied. "All that matters is why we do it."

"And why is that?"

"Well, some of us dance to remember good times in our lives; others prefer to dance to forget sad memories."

"And where are they now?" I asked.

"They're here with us," she replied with a smile. "They're always here."

Having said that, she stepped away from me and made a playful reverence while my skin crawled and I felt as if I started to lose my nerve. She then held my arm in an old fashioned way and led me back to my room. I didn't miss the fact that the corridors once more seemed to be deserted, which only helped to increase the goose bumps that I already felt.

"Can I bring you something to drink?" she asked before leaving.

"Well, I tried a drink in the nearby land of Termina called Chateau Romani," I replied unsure. "Do you have that by any chance?"

"Wow," she said. "We haven't had anybody ordering something that made you feel that ALIVE in a long time." She thought for a moment and then added, "I'll see what I can find." I nodded and she turned around to exit, but then she looked at me again and winked an eye while saying: "master's chambers, dinner," and then she left.

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><p>I tried hard to sleep for a while before going for dinner; however, I kept tossing and turning on my bed, a chilling air filling the room and voices… voices which spoke from within the walls, fully waking me up as I paled and looked around.<p>

"Welcome to Lost Woods Hotel."

"This is a lovely place to stay."

"Such a lovely face…"

"Let's live it up… join us…"

"It's such a nice surprise…"

"Don't forget to bring your alibis…"

* * *

><p>I was on my way upstairs when I first noticed the mirrors on the ceiling. I thought I could see some shadows reflected onto it behind me, ahead, all around. I really thought I was going insane, so I started to run; I ran upstairs through the never-ending staircase until I saw Tiffany waiting for me. She was holding an iced bottle of Chateau Romani in her hands and was smiling at me.<p>

"You can't run, Link," she said. Her voice now was a bit sad. "It's impossible to run away from your own device. We are all just prisoners here." She then went through a door and what I saw inside nearly ripped out a scream of fear out of me.

It was a large dining room, barely lit inside except for a few candles hanging from the decolorized walls. Sitting around the table, holding rusty steel knives in their hands, were a group of stalfos. They were laughing as they tried to stab at the creature tossing and neighing tied on top of the table: Epona.

"NOOOOOOOOO!" I screamed, tears coming to my eyes, as I saw the blades sinking into Epona's flesh.

"We've been trying to serve dinner for a while," said Tiffany behind me, "but the damn thing just won't die."

I turned around and saw that she was changed: her gown was dirty and there was a trail of dry blood crossing her face, starting from a wound on her forehead and ending on her chin. Her eyes now were black empty holes that stared at me.

* * *

><p>Next thing I remember, I was running down the corridor, holding my bleeding arm and panting as I felt my breath slipping away. I looked back and saw two poes floating and dashing toward me, so I tried to quicken up my pace. I kept running, turning on each corner, trying hard to find the passage back to the entrance. A door opened in front of me and I froze in my spot when a re-dead came out of it. I tried to move, but the image of the walking corpse in front of me kept me frozen in place.<p>

The re-dead jumped and hung itself from my back, and I felt how what energy I had left started to fade away. I made a great effort to break free, and then I pulled out my sword and slashed it, cutting the creature in two. I saw then two stalfos approaching and dropped the sword, running again toward another corridor.

Drenched in a mixture of sweat and the re-dead's blood as well as my own, I arrived at the reception and ran toward the door, only to find out that it was locked. I stepped back to build some momentum and slammed my body against the door turning it into splinters and falling on the floor. I stood up and my heart sank when I realized that the room behind was the reception itself! I turned around, expecting to find the shattered door, only to see it fully repaired.

I fell on my knees and cried in rage. Despair made its way into my heart and mind and I thought I had lost it. Then I felt a cold hand on my shoulder and heard Tiffany's girly voice:

"Relax Link," she said with a giggle, "we are here to receive." I looked up and saw her ghostly bloody face looking down at me, a creepy smile growing on her face. "You can check out at any time you like… but you can NEVER leave."

She then lowered her face and I screamed, closing my eyes and feeling once more the rain falling on top of me and listening to Epona's neigh next to me, no sign of the hotel within sight.

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><p><em><strong>-Out of Link's POV-<strong>_

Malon had tears in her eyes; Link had just finished retelling his story. She stood up behind him and gently wrapped her arms around his neck while planting a soft kiss his cheek. He held her hand, his own trembling and noticed for the first time how cold her skin was. His heart started to race, his breathing rate increased and he slowly turned around to look at her face. Her hair was black and hung on each side of her face, her eyes hollow and a smirk across her pale dead face.

"I told you… you can never leave…"

Link's scream was lost with the first light of dawn.


End file.
